Latch.



No. 811,880 PATENTED FEB. 6, 1906. J. 0. STEENSLAND & W. WEAVER.

LATCH.

APPLICATION FILED APR.Z5. 190s.

Inventors Attorneys sarns LATCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 6, 1906.

Application filed April 25, 1905. Serial No. 257,330.

To all rah/071v it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMEs O. STEENS- LAND and WILLIAM WEAVER, citizens of the United States, residing at Blanchardville, in

r the county of Lafayette and State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful Latch, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to latches, and has for its object to provide an improved swinging latch particularly adapted for doors and capable of fastening either swinging or sliding doors in a simple and effective manner.

It is a further object of the invention to enable positive locking of the latch by means of a padlock or other appropriate form of lock and to enable the employment of the latch at either the right-hand or left-hand edge of the door.

With these and other objects in view the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, as will be" hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes in the form, proportion, size, and minor details may be made within t hescope of the claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a latch embodying the features of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the latch member. Fig. 1 is a similar view of the keeper members. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view showing the manner of pivotally mounting the latch.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in each and every figure of the drawings.

The present invention includes a baseplate or attaching-plate 1, having a transverse guide-loop 2 offset at one end of the plate, the latter being provided at its opposite end with. a longitudinal slot 3, having its longitudinal edges beveled or inclined in opposite directions from their ends to form corresponding inwardly-directed pointed bearing projections a, for a purpose as will be hereinafter set forth.

' The swinging latch member 5 has a looped handle 6, disposed longitudinally thereof for convenience in. swinging the latch upon its pivotal. support, consisting of a flat bar or wing 7, having one end portion reduced, as at S, to fit within the slot 3 of the attachingplate 1. between the knife-edge projections 4L and then again reduced to form a stud. or proj ection 9, which is passed through an opening in the latch. and has its outer end upset, so as to rigidly clamp the latch member between the upset portion of the projection 9 and the shoulders 1.0 to rigidly connect the member 7 to the latch. Prior to applying the attaching-plate 1 to the door 11 an opening 12 is formed through the door to receive the pivot 7, the latter being of a length to project a suitable distance beyond the door so as to constitute a handle for swinging the latch upon its pivotal support. The free end portion of the latch works in the guide-loop 2 and projects beyond the adjacent end of the attaching-plate, with its extremity formed into an arrow-head catch-terminal 1.3, which is provided at its outer extremity with a laterally-directed ear or lug 14, having a perforation 15.

The keeper for the latch consists of an attaching-plate 16, having suitable perforations for the reception of fastenings to secure the plate to a door-frame 17 when used in connection with a swinging door or to one of a pair of slidable doors. At the lower end of the attaching-plate there is a forwardly-direeted base-flange 18, provided with a longitudinal slot or opening 19, with a down wardly-inclined guide flange or lip 20 at the outer edge of the base-flange.

When used in connection with a swinging door, the catch-head 13 of the latch is designed to wipe across the inclined guide-lip 20, so as to lift the latch and. direct the head of they same to the seat or opening 19, into which said head is designed to drop, as indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawings, thereby to illsure an automatic engagement of the latch with the keeper.

If the latch and the keeper are applied to slidable doors, the beveled free extremity of the latch will engage one end. of the keeper and be lifted thereby until the latch-head. 13 drops into the seat or opening 19, wherefore it will be understood that the present latch is capable of use upon slidable doors as well as upon swinging doors.

To enable the positive locking of the latch, there is a supplemental keeper member com.-

prising an attaching plate or shank 21, provided at one end with a laterally-directed car 22, having a perforation 23. The shank 21 is adapted to be fitted between the plate 16 and the part to which the latter is connected and is provided with a pair of perforations for alinement with a pair of the perforations of the plate 16, so as to be secured in place by the same fastenings which secure the main keeper. When thus assembled, the perforate ear 22 projects in front of the plate 16, across one end thereof, with its perforation 23 in alinement with the perforation 15 of the ear 14 on the latch, thereby to enable the convenient engagement of the shackle of a padlock 24 with the perforations of these cars, so as ti) positively lock the latch whenever desirec The purpose of having a separate supplemental keeper member is to enable the reversing of the latter, so as to accommodate the same to right and left hand doors.

Having fully described the invention,what is claimed is 1. A latch comprising an attaching-plate having a slot provided with corresponding inwardly-directed bearing projections, and a swinging latch having a flat pivot member passing through the slot and capable of rocking upon the bearing projections of said slot.

2. A latch comprising an attaching-plate having a slot provided with corresponding inwardly-directed projections, and a swinging latch having a fiat pivot member passing through the slot and projected at the opposite side of the plate to form a handle for manipulating the latch, said pivot member engaging the projections of the slot as bearingpoints.

3. In a latch, the combination of a swinging latch member provided with a catch-head having a laterally-directed perforate ear, a keeper including an attaching-plate andalaterally-directed flange provided with a seat to receive the catch-head, and a supplemental keeper provided at one end with a'lateral perforate ear having a perforation, said supplemental keeper capable of being connected to the attaching-plate of the main keeper with its ear at either end thereof, the perforate ears of the supplemental keeper and the latch being adapted to receive the shackle of alock.

4. In alatch, the combination of an attaching-plate having a transverse loop at one end thereof and provided at its opposite end with an opening, a swinging latch member having a handle upon its outer side and provided with a pivot member fitted in the opening of the plate, the free portion of the latch member working in the loop and provided at its extremity with an arrow-head catch having a laterally-directed ear provided with a perforation, a main keeper including an attaching-plate having a laterally-directed flange provided with an opening to receive the head of the latch and also provided with a downwardly-inclined guide-lip at the outer edge of the flange, and a reversible supplemental keeper capable of connection with the attaching-plate of the main keeper and provided with a laterally-directed ear having a perforation, the perforate ears of the supplemental keeper and the latch being adapted to receive the shackle of a lock In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto afliXed our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES O. STEENSLAND. WVILLIAM l/VEAVER. Witnesses:

MARY E. KNIGHT, CARL CHANDLER. 

